Monday, March 1, 2010

I took a trip to Hell this weekend


So 6 months ago my sister, Shannon, called me up and said she wanted to do this 204 mile relay race from Prescott AZ to Tempe AZ and that she wouldn't do it unless I did it too. At the time I thought that sounded awful. I had JUST had a baby by C-Section and training for a race was NOT what I wanted to be doing. But I reluctantly agreed and the training began. We assembled a team of 12 girls including myself, 2 sisters, 4 cousins, a couple of their friends and my bestie from high school. Along the way quite a few dropped out and were filled in by a couple more cousins on the other side of the family and some VERY last minute replacements (like the day before, thank you Courtney!) But we were determined to get this race done.


The "FlabFighters" right before the race started, left to right: Evelyn, Meredith, Meghan, Marisa, Courtney, Kelly, Jenn, Debbie, Shawn, Windy, and Karina (Shannon was taking the picture)
Some of my teammates, Debbie the Awesome Aussie, Kelly my cousin, Evelyn the bestie, Shawn a cousin's friend, and Courtney who saved our day
Meghan, Meredith and Windy
Meghan Decorating the Tahoe
Some Jones cousins, Meredith, Marisa, and Meghan at the starting line
the girls from my car Karina in front, Evelyn, Meghan, Shannon, and Windy
Meredith and Evelyn
my sisters and I on day 2, are those tired eyes or what?

What an adventure to say the least. starting with a 3 mile run straight uphill for poor Shannon, the hills I never thought would end, trying to nap on the desert floor with ants circling around, by the way, my sister Windy can put up a tent like nobody's business, losing Karina in the middle of the night during her 7 mile run (thank you kind runner who found her) shannon's 8 mile run in the middle of the night, the portapotties!! i've never used so many in my life, the 1 am run on the highway and spotting my teammates at jack in the box as i ran past them wishing i could join them, sleeping on the pavement in a middle school parking lot at 6 am (not really sleeping), praying that the boy who got hit by a car while passing his teammate water would be ok (we still don't know) the tears that EVERY team member shared as each of us finished our last legs, and finally watching Shannon join us at the finish line to end it all pushing kelly on a grocery cart to get her across the line cause she ruined her knee for this.

In the words of my sister Shannon, "hell is a never ending Ragnar Relay Race, with the need to poo every 20 minutes!" That's what I did this last weekend, and you know what . . . I would do it again.

but for now, i'm resting.

10 comments:

Elder Romney's mission said...

Sounds like a Great? time! How was your actual run?

Ashley said...

Soooooo cool! Someday I'll do something amazing like that! I was really hoping I'd be able to fill in for the girl who dropped out at the last minute but Demy is SUPER busy at the end of the month so he wouldn't have been able to watch the kids for me :( Maybe the NEXT time you do it! ;)

laurice. said...

impresive.

Derrick's sister Megan did that same race.

The Farmer's Wife said...

IMPRESSIVE!!! I am soo proud of you!

Me... said...

You girls are crazy!!! I have no desire to ever run that much. So, my hats off to you! Congrats!

Amy said...

You are awesome!! What an accomplishment and how fun to do it with friends and fam.

Jarmeg Family said...

you did so good- i am proud of all of us... and yes i am pretty sure we did go to hell and back!

dkeaquinto said...

Crazy! I love it! You are so incredible. How fun to do that with your sisters and family!

Miss M said...

You rock, Mer. Seriously. Way to finish and still find the positive in it. I'm totally proud of you.

Rachelle Vernon Jones said...

I love it! YOu're super fantastic and awesome! and I love the title. I's SO proud of ya!!! :)